Gentoo Homes honoured for helping build a fairer society
City housebuilder Gentoo Homes is an award winner two times over.
The firm scooped the top prize at the national Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Bricks Awards for ‘best social housing development of the year’ for the second year in a row.
Gentoo Homes’ affordable rent scheme Hillcrag beat more than 3,000 schemes from across the UK to take the top prize for its superior design and construction quality.
Hillcrag, which was built on brownfield land at the former High Ford Estate in Sunderland, is one of Gentoo’s last remaining renewal sites as part of its major multi-million pound city-wide regeneration programme.
The development is a 132-home estate consisting of two, three and four-bedroomed houses and two-bedroomed bungalows, costing a total of £14.3million to build, of which £2.9million of this was funded via grant from the Homes and Communities Agency as part of the Affordable Homes Programme.
Michelle Meldrum, Executive Director of Operations at Gentoo, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Gentoo Homes.
“I would like to congratulate all of the staff that have been involved in creating this outstanding development. To be recognised once is a fantastic achievement, but for our staff and this development to be recognised at a national awards ceremony for two years running is just phenomenal.
“It’s a real testimony to the hard work that has gone into creating such an outstanding place to live and delivering much needed rented homes for the people of Sunderland.”
Mike Swatton, LABC Warranty Business Development Director and Head Judge commented: “We have seen a good, consistent level of build standards across the board with some exceptional workmanship and quality in construction. The standard of nominees this year has been unprecedented.”